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Squaring the Open Source/Open Standards Circle

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the learning-from-history dept.

Andy Updegrove writes "Before there was Linux, before there was open source, there was of course (and still is) an operating system called Unix that was robust, stable and widely admired. It was also available under license to anyone that wanted to use it, and partly for that reason many variants grew up and lost interoperability - and the Unix wars began. Those wars helped Microsoft displace Unix with Windows NT, which steadily gained market share until Linux, a Unix clone, in turn began to supplant NT. Unfortunately, one of the very things that makes Linux powerful also makes it vulnerable to the same type of fragmentation that helped to doom Unix - the open source licenses under which Linux distributions are created and made available. Happily, there is a remedy to avoid the end that befell Unix, and that remedy is open standards - specifically, the Linux Standards Base (LSB). The LSB is now an ISO/IEC standard, and was created by the Free Standards Group. In a recent interview, the FSG's Executive Director, Jim Zemlin, and CTO, Ian Murdock, creator of Debian GNU/Linux, tell how the FSG works collaboratively with the open source community to support the continued progress of Linux and other key open source software, and ensure that end users do not suffer the same type of lock in that traps licensees of proprietary software products."

5 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Karma Burning by Big+Sean+O · · Score: 4, Funny

    All your (Linux Standards) Base are belong to us.

    --
    My father is a blogger.
  2. Re:Unix is dead by ems2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Not only is UNIX dead, it's starting to smell really bad." - Rob Pike 1991

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    Plan 9 from Bell Labs.
  3. Re:Unix is dead by FidelCatsro · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh dear, This means I have a room full of Zombies at my office

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  4. Re:NT didn't displace UNIX by youngerpants · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let me know the IP address range of your W2K3 web farm and I'll show you things Windows can do that Linux cant....

  5. Re:OT: Motif, CDE color schemes by IntlHarvester · · Score: 2, Funny

    CDE is a monument to that brief moment during the Reagan administration when pastels were the trendyest, most high-tech colors.

    --
    Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.